DIR- Generic "DIR Approved" Regulators

[Fox800]

Hi all. I'm starting to move into technical diving training, I've started with TDI, completed sidemount and will be taking advanced Nitrox and decompression procedures soon. I plan on taking Fundies at some point, and I need to replace my octo with something more substantial. I'm currently running a Scubapro MK19 EVO, A700 primary, and R195 octo. I was planning on replacing the R195 octo with another A700, but I've read that old DIR mantra requires regulators to be capable of being disassembled while in the water, the A700 cannot do this. Reading the GUE standards, I don't see any mention of this any more so it may have gone out the window.

Are there any issues doing GUE or technical diving with A700s? I doubt I would do additional training with GUE after Fundies, I'll likely stick with TDI as there are multiple TDI instructors in my area but no GUE instructors. Thanks!

 

[Fox800]

Comment deleted.

 

[grantctobin]

@Fox800 Could always stick with your R195 for now. Intent is for the backup to be reliable. Hell, some of the RB80 guys have a R190 on their necklace and that's also what the RB80 BOV internals are.

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[john120283]

As far as I know there is nothing in the GUE standards that would prohibit you from using an A700 in a GUE course. In fact, one of my Tech 1 teammates used an A700 during our class.

Personally, I prefer the G260 over the A700 as it's easier to easier to repair/troubleshoot at the dive site. The service kits are also quite a bit cheaper. I couldn't tell a difference between the performance and size of the regs underwater.

As others have said here, your current backup is more than adequate for technical diving.

 

[L13]

Personally, I prefer the G260 over the A700 as it's easier to easier to repair/troubleshoot at the dive site. The service kits are also quite a bit cheaper. I couldn't tell a difference between the performance and size of the regs underwater.

If you want to disassemble the G260 underwater, you will want to remove the cover locking pin.

 

[Bigbella]

Apparently, the "saltiness" of my above posts got me ejected, from the DIR-Friar's Club -- twice! I'll still have their jacket dry-cleaned.

Just curious, from one of the hoi polloi.

In what will soon be forty-six years of diving this Summer, both for industry and for sport, from the ice to the tropics, from hospitable to very inhospitable conditions, I have never found it necessary or ever desirable, over thousands of dives, to disassemble a regulator underwater; never once had that need -- nor has anyone that I have ever known, and I have never experienced a failure from an upstream-servo design, which my niece had been told was verboten by her instructor.

Ironically enough, that Poseidon Xstream allowed for such disassembly of its second stage, for the last twenty years -- just pop the damn thing apart; and the number of people whom I dove with -- and whose gear I had routinely serviced over that time, who had ever attempted it, or even had some outré desire to do so underwater: zero, zed, null, ゼロ.

For that matter, I have only given away my octopus or pony bottle, each regulator conspicuously canary yellow in both cases, on a slightly longer hose (like I learned at the "Y" when I was still a slack-jawed punk), on a handful of occasions over the years, to an out of air diver -- and no one, who had ever expected to safely hit the surface again, had ever gone for my primary; nor have I ever given one whit to the type of BC someone had on hand for work or sport -- other than I had hoped that it worked for them and that their valve setup didn't Bobo Brazil coco-butt them in the head on a regular basis.

Have we all been doing this incorrectly for the last six or seven decades; and are we really in need of HOA-style rules and regulations where almost none previously existed?

 

[JoeTPhilly]

During the Fundamentals equipment review I was told the A700 was not a good choice for technical diving the reason you mentioned. The G260 was recommended. Also, they want the pin removed so the cover could be removed underwater. However, I doubt they would prevent you from taking the class with an A700.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Reading the GUE standards, I don't see any mention of this any more so it may have gone out the window.

Correct. Avoid putting too much faith in stuff written long ago. The published GUE Standards are all that matters for your present purposes.

My Fundies instructor didn't give my regs any scrutiny whatsoever. On the first day of Fundies, the instructor will probably have you lay out your gear for a quick look-over. They want to see a backplate with a continuous-webbing harness with D-rings in the right places, a long-hose primary and bungeed backup reg, etc.--all the most basic stuff that you noted in the published Standards.

Even if the instructor points out something that you might want to change, it's not as though you will be flogged for it. If it's something major, it can probably be swapped out on the spot with a rental item if your class is taking place in a dive shop. If it's something minor, no big deal--it's good enough to get you through the class.

As my Fundies classmates and I were arriving the first morning, I chatted briefly with one of them, who said, "I liked everything I read about the GUE system, except that long-hose thing." (Yes, that was a verbatim quote that I will never forget.) She had come to class with a standard recreational-length hose setup. When the class began and the instructor looked over her gear, he smiled and gently persuaded her of the importance of the "long-hose thing" and helped her swap out her hoses, tie a bungee necklace and boltsnap, and she was good to go. So, when I read questions from prospective Fundies students fretting over what are probably minor gear issues, I just remember this story.

 

[Endler's]

If you want to disassemble the G260 underwater, you will want to remove the cover locking pin.

And fill hole with RTV Silicone, so that it won't let sand into the threads.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I doubt I would do additional training with GUE after Fundies, I'll likely stick with TDI as there are multiple TDI instructors in my area but no GUE instructors.

If you're in Hawaii, Meredith Tanguay splits her instructing between Hawaii and Florida (and often other places as well).